Māori and the Criminal Justice System: Why New Zealand’s Drug Laws Need to Change

By Emilia Sullivan

Māori, despite only making up 15% of the population, make up 52.8% of New Zealand’s prison population, with almost half being incarcerated for drug offences. In 2015, the (now former) Commissioner of Police Mike Bush acknowledged that New Zealand police have an ‘unconscious bias’ toward Māori. Five years on, things have not changed. Māori are still disproportionately represented in the prison system, with a large portion of these being non-violent drug offences. Something has clearly gone wrong in our justice system’s approach to reducing harm caused by drugs, and it needs to be rectified by Māori, for Māori.

While the law in New Zealand is said to be ‘colour blind’, it ignores the implicit bias against Māori that is perpetuated within society. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, while not explicitly discriminatory, is applied and enforced in such a way that Māori tend to bear the brunt of its force. This ultimately boils down to the distrust between Māori and the police. A 1998 report on the relationship between Māori and the police suggests that they mirror the attitudes of one another — Māori are suspicious of the police, so the police become suspicious of Māori; the police use more aggressive techniques, so Māori respond with defiance.[1] It is a cycle that has been rife in New Zealand’s social hierarchy since the days of colonisation, and can only be broken by a complete restructuring of our justice system. 

This restructuring must focus on mitigating harm caused by drugs, instead of waiting until the only available step is prosecution and incarceration. The punitive approach to drug use has only increased the racial and economic divide in New Zealand, and therefore should be replaced with a compassionate, proportionate and innovative model. An estimated 50,000 New Zealanders, many of them Māori, have trouble accessing treatment for their drug problems. This is not because of a lack of resources, but rather due to the stigma associated with drug use which bars people from getting the help they desperately need. 

The government recently injected $98 million into the Māori Pathways programme, which would have a kaupapa Māori and whānau-centred approach for offenders through all stages of the criminal justice system; from pre-sentence through to reintegration and transition into the community. It would include support for trauma and mental health, as well as expanding rehabilitation services for those already incarcerated. Resource allocation such as this is a necessity for preventing recidivism among Māori offenders, but it will take much more than just money to change this.

At the end of 2020, the New Zealand public will vote on whether cannabis should be legalised for recreational use. Many have seen this as a big step towards equity between Māori and Pakeha in regards to criminal justice and health. By freeing non-violent marijuana users from the repercussions of state intervention, we can attempt to eliminate the culture of fear and mistrust between Māori and the police, build better relationships with legal and medical professionals and prevent the unnecessary splitting up of families for non-violent offences. As over half of New Zealanders imprisoned for minor drug offences are Māori, the prison population would drop, and resources will be better allocated to education and harm prevention.

However, many prominent Māori figures see the legalisation of marijuana as a superficial step that doesn’t properly address underlying issues that Māori face. For example, former Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox believes that a complete restructuring of New Zealand’s drug laws should be a higher priority than the single task of legalising marijuana. She claims that the current punitive approach to drug use is no longer satisfactory, and wishes that the system could be focused more on diversion and health pathways. Te Rau Ora, the Drug Foundation and Hāpai Te Hauora have collaborated to create a list of expectations for the Crown to help create a level playing field for Māori and Pakeha should the public vote “yes”. They request that whānau, hapū, iwi and hapori be consulted at every point in the development of the bill and regulations, with any regulatory models upholding Māori rights and interests under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Another request is that the regulatory model actively works to redress Māori who suffered disproportionate levels of harm under prohibition. This could include an apology and acknowledgement of wrongs, as well as pardoning non-violent, minor drug convictions. The final request is that the model not be hijacked by profit motives, which means keeping the supply chain largely non-profit.

While the legalisation of cannabis may help reduce the amount of Māori incarcerated for non-violent and low-level drug offences, it will take a complete societal and systemic restructuring to mitigate the impacts that previous law has had on Māori. New Zealand’s justice system from 1840 to today has disproportionately targeted Māori. Major changes in legislation, and the way in which Māori offenders are supported and rehabilitated, are imperative if we want to see an equitable future for our indigenous people.

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[1] Gabrielle Maxwell and Catherine Smith Police Perceptions of Maori: A Report to the New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Maori Development: Te Puni Kokiri (Victoria University of Wellington, March 1998) at 19.